#76 – Fibre Channel and NVMe with Mark Jones

In this week’s podcast, Chris and Martin talk to Mark Jones from the Fibre Channel Industry Association.  This recording is an introduction to running NVMe over Fibre Channel, setting the scene on how Fibre Channel has evolved and will continue to be a storage protocol for many years.

Fibre Channel reached an important milestone in 2018.  It’s been 30 years since development and 25 years since the first products were shipped.  Speeds started at 133Mb/s, while today, Gen 6 FC runs at 32Gb/s.  Higher speeds are coming in 2019 and can also be achieved with channel bonding.

How does NVMe fit in with Fibre Channel?  FC can be used as the transport layer for many storage protocols, including FCP (SCSI), FICON and now NVMe.  We can expect to see significant performance improvements in performance and reductions in latency compared to FCP.  Even better, with the right level of equipment, both FCP and NVMe run side by side.

For more information on FC-NVMe, check out the FCIA website at fibrechannel.org.

Elapsed Time: 00:28:58

Timeline

• 00:00:00 – Intros
• 00:00:00 – What is the FCIA?
• 00:02:00 – What is Fibre Channel
• 00:04:30 – Yes, Fibre is the correct spelling
• 00:05:00 – The FC-4 layer – where the storage protocols run
• 00:06:30 – Which is fastest, Ethernet or Fibre Channel?
• 00:09:00 – Let’s talk FC-NVMe!
• 00:12:50 – How much of a performance gain is there with FC-NVMe?
• 00:14:30 – Fibre Channel supports multiple storage protocols – at the same time
• 00:16:40 – Is Fibre Channel adoption growing or decreasing?
• 00:18:50 – What’s needed to install and use NVMe?
• 00:23:40 – FC or Ethernet – place your bets
• 00:27:30 – Wrap up

Related Podcasts & Blogs

• #74 – All About Serial Attached SCSI with Rich Kutcipal
• #61 – Introduction to NVM Express with Amber Huffman
• #59 – Ethernet vs Fibre Channel

Mark’s Bio

Mark Jones has worked in the enterprise computing industry since 1984.  Currently is the Director of Technical Marketing for Broadcom Inc. Emulex Connectivity Division.  Mr. Jones comes to Broadcom via the acquisition of Emulex Corporation in 2015 for which he has worked since 2002.  For the 18 years prior he worked as a Strategic Solutions Manager for Burroughs/Unisys.  Mr. Jones has a Computer Science degree from the University of Redland and currently serves as the President of the Fibre Channel Industry Association.

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